Raw Video, Garbage truck rollover, drivers leg amputated at scene
Aerial view;Doctors Amputate Leg After Garbage Truck Flips In Pembroke Pines.
November 2, 2007
PEMBROKE PINES, Fla. -- The female driver of a garbage truck lost part of a leg after surgeons needed to amputate the limb to extricate her from being trapped under the truck's cab Friday.
Police said Gwendolyn Hightower, 36, of Miami, flipped the truck while making a turn in a residential area at
More.. 140th Avenue and Taft Street.
It took firefighters and surgeons one hour and 20 minutes to free Hightower, who is now in critical condition at Hollywood's Memorial Regional Hospital.
A large tow truck was brought in to lift the truck off of Hightower and wood blocks were placed under the cab to pull the truck up in order to allow rescue teams to extricate her.
Fire and rescue could be seen from Sky 10 cutting off sections of the roof of the truck to peel it back in order to extricate the woman.
The crash happened just after 11 a.m. inside the gated Pembroke Falls community. Police said Hightower was steering from the passenger side of the truck when it flipped; the garbage truck has controls on both the passenger and driver sides.
A passenger inside the truck, 24-year-old Alex Wright, of Fort Lauderdale, was not injured, police said.
Pembroke Pines Fire Rescue would only describe the amputation as a surgical procedure, but Local 10 learned that part of Hightower's leg was removed at the scene.
Hightower was airlifted by a Broward County Sheriff's Office helicopter. She was immediately rushed into surgery at Memorial Regional Hospital, Local 10 reported.
The truck belongs to All Service Refuse of Fort Lauderdale.
Pembroke Pines police Sgt. John Gazzano said speed may have been a factor in the crash.
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Added: Nov 3 2007 In: news_politics
By: bellava Premium
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